Meets: Wednesdays, April 4, April 18, May 2, May 16, May 30, 5:30-7:30 p.m in addition to regular class meetings. Place: Library 3417 (3rd floor corner conference room)

Students enrolled for twelve credits in The Age of Irony will study literary theory and practice cultural criticism. In addition to completing the work for the eight credit program, they will read two additional books and several articles, will meet for a bi-weekly seminar applying these ideas to the program texts, and will write short critical essays about some of the novels they are reading in the program. This option is ideal for students wanting more advanced studies in literature and those who would like a supportive environment for producing senior-level written work. Four credits will be awarded in literary and cultural criticism, in addition to the Age of Irony credits.

Required books:

Literary Theory, by Terry Eagleton. U of Chicago Press, 1983
Introducing Cultural Studies by Ziauddin Sardar , Borin Van Loon, Totem Books, 2005

Essays:
Burke, Kenneth. "Literature as Equipment for Living." In The Philosophy of Literary Form. 1941
Cixous, Helene. "The Laugh of the Medusa." In Signs I (Summer 1976).
Fish, Stanley. "Is there a Text in This Class?" in Is There a Text in This Class. 1980.
Gilbert, Sandra. "Literary Paternity." In The Madwoman in the Attic. New Haven: Yale UP, 1979.
James, Henry. "The Art of Fiction" in Partial Portraits, 1888.
Kolodyny, Annette. "Dancing Through the Minefield: Some Observations on the Theory, Practice, and Politics of a Feminist Literary Criticism." Feminist Studies (1980).
Said, Edward. "Secular Criticism" in The World, The Text, and the Critic. Cambridge, MA: Harvard UP, 1983.
White, Hayden. "The Historical Text as Literary Artifact." Clio 3. no 3 (1974 and in The Tropics of Discourse: Essays in Cultural Criticism. Johns Hopkins UP, 1978.
Wilde, Oscar. "The Decay of Lying." 1889. on line, many sources.

April 4
Read and be prepared to discuss Chapter 1: What is Literature? In Literary Theory: An Introduction, and "The Historical Text as Literary Artifact," by Hayden White.
Assignment: Finish Literary Theory, An Introduction. As you read Berger and Eagleton, compile a glossary of terms and bring it to the next class meeting. Prepare a two-page "reading" of Gatsby using one of the theories explained in Berger and/or Eagleton.

April 18
Seminar on Literary Theory and your Gatsby readings.
Assignment: Find and read Gilbert & Gubar and Cixous and Kolodny articles. Prepare a two-page feminist reading of Babbitt.

May 2
Seminar on feminism articles and Babbitt. Assignment: Read Introducing Cultural Studies. Prepare a two-page Cultural Studies reading of In the Heat of the Night with a focus on race. Assignment: Find and read Fish and Wilde essays and prepare a two-page reading of a program text of your choice, using concepts from the essays.

May 16
Seminar on Fish and Wilde essays and your readings.
Assignment: Find and read Said, Burke, and James essays. Write a two-page answer to the question, "Why read? [literature]"

May 30
Share and discuss your essays and Said, Burke and James essays.

TESC Evening & Weekend Studies -- Fall/Winter/Spring 2006-2007